Apple Watch

[Fel]

I don't know what to say Fel. I have owned two iPads and I think they are hard to beat. I use iPads at work too and they have made a significant difference in my profession. Strangely I'm not a Mac guy though. I prefer a PC for gaming and normal admin stuff.

I might make the note that apple wasn't the first to make the tablet... TabletPC (windows XP I think) was around but never kicked off.

In terms of inventory management, TabletPC was often used... I, as a customer, saw it often enough. Of course, appealing to buisnessmen rather than mass consumers means the product doesn't get significantly improved upon; and the real improvements come from what is termed "ultra-book" or rather, a laptop with all components pressed into a single printed circuit board. VERY expensive in small scale, cheaper with economies of scale.

Let me just explain once more, Apple is a genius at designing products that look so unbelievably cool that people WANT to use them. Whether you use linux, osx, windows, it doesn't really matter in my eyes because the problem is that, to the mass consumer, the "feel cool" aspect of using a product matters more than the functionality.

Working out your schedule is DULL, boring... but somehow software that tweets your schedule makes it more interesting for people to use. Even talking about your schedule rather than working it out gets people "more interested" in actually doing it. I mean, SIRI really is a toy, if you consider just how much people type on the iPhone. But people who would ignore PDA features because it was too difficult to "type" now are speaking; even people who type whole dissertations on forum posts.

I mean, in this thread, we have someone saying that it is easier to raise their hand to their face to talk to siri, thus apple watch is cool. Of course, a blue tooth headset ALSO does that, but all the old spy movies had that "apple watch" where Q would pop on screen and Bond would have quibs with him... the "cool" factor.

Now, if you just want to consider removing functionality to make something "cool" an improvement, that is your prerogative; but I was never trying to say that the iPad doesn't do what it does... just that the only reason anyone actually uses it is because they feel cool doing so. TabletPC had an even worse market than netbooks; if all apple did was put the old TabletPC OS on a "ipad" hardware, people would still hate it, even complain about how much was removed... but because Apple made TabletPC COOL, people used it, wanted it, and it became mainstream enough to get developed on.

[vger]

thats pretty much it. but still i have not been a huge fan of many of these portable devices. tiny, screens with clumsy touch interfaces, horrible software (especially anything that wants to run in a vm, im looking at you android), not to mention closed architectures

Generally I agree. I like being able to build a device how I want it. Even as a kid though... I was a hardcore Nintendo fanboy. But I could NOT get into portable devices. I had a Gameboy, but only bought maybe five games for it that were must-haves so I could continue the story of NES games.

My only real exception to the portable craze is Kindle. That gave me a love of reading. Turns out that reading back-lit text is just much easier on my eyes. Reading a paper book, I was always at the mercy of whatever lighting was in the room. In the case of school, that was low-budget crap flourescents that always gave me a splitting headache.

[Flymetothemun]

Generally I agree. I like being able to build a device how I want it. Even as a kid though... I was a hardcore Nintendo fanboy. But I could NOT get into portable devices. I had a Gameboy, but only bought maybe five games for it that were must-haves so I could continue the story of NES games.

My only real exception to the portable craze is Kindle. That gave me a love of reading. Turns out that reading back-lit text is just much easier on my eyes. Reading a paper book, I was always at the mercy of whatever lighting was in the room. In the case of school, that was low-budget crap flourescents that always gave me a splitting headache.

And the hard-a** seats didn't exactly make my neck want to bend down either.

[bigdad84]

Apple Watch pre-orders have been starting to get sent out! Anybody lucky enough to get updates on theirs yet? Mines still sitting at "processing order".

[dharak1]

Since I don't plan on owning apple mobile devices and likely regular computers too I won't be buying an Apple Watch. With most other Android Wear based watches entering their second and third generations I'll be looking at those. I prefer circular smartwatches so I'm keeping an eye out for news about the Moto 360 2 and the LG G watch R2. I really like the design of the original G watch R and it seems to be one of the, if not the best smartwatch to date. My second choice would be a Moto 360 but it doesn't quite look as nice because of the flat tire design. I do however like the featureless exterior quite a bit.

[DrD]

Here's where it would be useful for me. I'm not sure it will be useful enough for me to get it, but certainly it won't be "just like my smartphone."

I get a lot of texts due to work. They're often at awkward times, driving, running, skiing, seeing a patient. Often they are trivial but sometimes are critical. So now I have to get my phone out of its holster. This is tough when driving and distracting. It's rude in front of a patient and I don't do it, but do stress over what the message is until I can get out and check it. Or maybe I'm on the ski lift, and since I'm a bit clumsy (don't worry I'm not a surgeon!) I'm afraid of dropping it off the lift and will not take it out. With the watch, a quick glance at my wrist will at least allow me to know if it's a message I need to respond to or can ignore until a more convenient time. Same for phone calls and caller ID.

Pulling my phone in and out 100 times a day is something I could see not even realizing was affecting my life until it's .. gone. Or at least significantly reduced. This is particularly good for professionals like me who can't ignore calls and messages but at the same time most of the ones I do get are not urgent.

[Fel]

I get a lot of texts due to work. They're often at awkward times, driving, running, skiing, seeing a patient. Often they are trivial but sometimes are critical. So now I have to get my phone out of its holster. This is tough when driving and distracting.

Are you seriously advocating texting and driving just because the device is now on your wrist? The problem is you aren't thinking about driving anymore, it could be a heads up display for all that matters, you're still distracted and no longer thinking about the road.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/study-voice-activated-texting-while-driving-no-safer-than-typing/2013/04/22/e0ec6780-a859-11e2-8302-3c7e0ea97057_story.html

It can wait. It can always wait. And if it can't, it takes 30 seconds to pull the car over. 30 seconds to save yet another life lost by distracted driving.

[dharak1]

Funny coincidence. Today in school we got a huge 3 hour long thing on distracted and impaired driving. It was ok besides one dude fainting and the videos they showed being crap. They never mentioned smartwatches as distractions although they did know that handsfree isn't any better. I wonder how wearables will factor into these distracted driving laws in the future.

[The Destroyer]

I don't really care. It's a uber-tiny display that wont really do much use to me, and expensive. I'm happy with my tablet, that's all I need.

[DrD]

No, unless you count a quick glance to see who it's from as texting. If I needed to reply I'd pull over. But currently I don't pull over every time I get a text. Fishing my phone out is distracting.